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- Everyone’s Building OpenClaw. Almost No One is Asking This.
Everyone’s Building OpenClaw. Almost No One is Asking This.
Review Platforms Lose Organic Traffic, but Win AIO Citations; Personal Intelligence; New Search Experience; Yahoo Returns to Search; TikTok Changes; and Much More!
Yoyao
January 31, 2026 • Est. Learning Time: 16 minutes
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Local SEO workflow is almost there. Just final tests and walkthrough video left to do.
Have you heard of ClawdBot?
Wait, MoltBot.
No, sorry, it’s OpenClaw.
Yes, that one. Three names in four days. That’s how fast this thing is moving.
The growth has been wild to watch. One day people are posting selfies with a Mac Mini. Twenty-four hours later they’re spinning up Cloudflare Workers and calling it their new AI stack.
It’s impressive. But it’s also not as simple as Twitter makes it look.
Unless you’re comfortable getting into the weeds with setup, networking, and security, this is probably something to watch from the sidelines for now. There are real security considerations that most people are not talking about.
If you are going to experiment with OpenClaw, this security hardening checklist from @DanielMiessler is worth reviewing before you touch anything:
It’s not just the VPS or the Mac Mini. Agents burn tokens aggressively. Depending on how you configure things, monthly costs can quietly creep into four figures if you’re always using Opus. ClawdBot was able to make a restaurant reservation for only $87. This is one chart I saw with cost estimates:
Yes, there are cheaper and free model options like GLM, MiniMax, DeepSeek, GPT-OSS, and Qwen. That helps. But the tradeoff is more tuning, more testing, and more time to get results that are useful.
If you like to tinker and enjoy building infrastructure, OpenClaw is fascinating.
If you want something stable, predictable, and turnkey, it’s probably worth waiting for the next wave of tooling.
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SEO + GEO
Yulia Deda digs into 30,000 commercial keywords and finds review sites still shape AI Overviews even as their organic traffic collapses. Only 34.5% of Overviews cite a review platform, but five players deliver 88% of those links.
Study size: 30,000 commercial keywords; AI Overviews showed up for 22,729 queries.
Review platforms appeared in 34.5% of AI Overviews, about one in three.
The top five platforms drove 88% of all review-platform links: Gartner Peer Insights, Software Advice, TrustRadius, plus the two in the summary.
Explicit “review/rating” queries triggered review platforms 49% of the time.
“Best/top” queries triggered review platforms just 17.1%
“Software/tools” queries still pulled review platforms 39.4%, even without the word “review.”
Link math: the average AI Overview had 9.29 total links, but only 0.73 review-platform links per response overall.
Traffic collapse despite citations (early 2024 to end of 2025): Clutch down 87%, and Yelp down 77% after peaking around 867M visits (mentions alone did not save clicks).
Glenn Gabe explains how Google’s Personal Intelligence makes Gemini and AI Mode pull from your Gmail, Search, Photos, and YouTube history to personalize answers. He shares real prompts that trigger hyper-tailored recommendations, warns SEO tracking gets murky fast, and argues brands must earn visibility through trust, content quality, and marketing fundamentals.
My Take: Glenn always brings such detail to his coverage to show you all the angles.
Robby Stein says Google Search is rolling out two upgrades: Gemini 3 as the default for AI Overviews worldwide, and follow-up questions that jump into AI Mode. For SEO teams, watch how deeper queries surface links, optimize pages for conversational context, and anticipate multi-turn intent with clear answers and details.
My Take: This is what Search is becoming.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK plans to rein in Google by requiring opt outs for AI Overviews, clearer attribution for publishers, fairer ranking transparency, mandatory choice screens on Android and Chrome, and better data portability. The proposals aim to rebalance power, protect publishers, and increase competition before feedback closes on February 25.
Google responded by outlining how it already gives publishers control over how their content appears in Search and AI features, including tools like robots.txt, preview controls, and the newer Google-Extended setting for AI training. They say they’re exploring additional opt-out options specifically for generative AI features while warning that overly rigid rules could harm search quality. Google emphasizes the need to balance publisher control with keeping Search useful, fast, and consistent for users.
Sean Markey charts Cointelegraph.com’s brutal traffic cliff: from 5M visits to near zero after a casino affiliate push. His keyword forensic shows iGaming pages likely triggered Google’s Site Reputation Abuse policy and a manual action.
My Take: A good lesson to stay in niche, vet partners, and not to rent authority too far.
Barry Schwartz explains how Yahoo! Scout revives Yahoo search with an AI answer engine built into Search, Mail, News, Finance, and more. Scout highlights citations, features a source, and mixes Anthropic models with Yahoo data plus Bing’s index. Expect news modules, affiliate shopping cards, ads, and a promised publisher portal.
Harry Clarkson-Bennett argues disambiguation is your unfair advantage in AI-first search. Write like you mean it: define terms, front-load answers, use tight headings, lists, and tables, cite sources, and keep pages current. Reinforce entities with sameAs, strong author bios, and internal links, then monitor intent shifts as news evolves daily.
SEO + GEO Ripples
Barry Schwartz reports Google Business Profiles now advises review replies: stay polite, keep it short, respond only when you've got new info, and skip salesy promos. For bad reviews, protect privacy, check records, own mistakes, explain limits, apologize with empathy, sign your name, and reply quickly to show you care.
Barry Schwartz reports Google is running a small Search ads experiment that adds third-party endorsement content beneath ad descriptions. The snippet can display the publisher’s name, logo, and a short line like “Best for Frequent Travelers,” shown with PCMag branding.
AI
Gemini 3 is turning Chrome into a side panel assistant that summarizes, compares, and plans without switching tabs. It can transform images with Nano Banana, use context from Gmail and Calendar, and, for U.S. Pro and Ultra users, auto browse researches trips and fills forms, pausing for confirmations.
Google announce Project Genie, a web prototype for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. (18+) that turns text or images into explorable worlds powered by Genie 3. You can preview and fine-tune scenes with Nano Banana Pro, choose first- or third-person view, remix others’ prompts and export 60-second videos of your runs.
AI Ripples
OpenAI says ChatGPT will retire GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and o4-mini on Feb. 13, 2026, with no API changes. The team brought 4o back after Plus and Pro feedback, then baked its warmth into GPT-5.1/5.2. Only 0.1% still pick 4o daily as it shifts focus to newer models and personalization.
Google AI Plus launched in 35 new countries, including the U.S., priced at $7.99 a month with a two month half off intro. You get Gemini 3 Pro, Nano Banana Pro, Flow, and NotebookLM, plus 200GB and sharing for five. Premium 2TB users upgrade automatically soon.
MARKETING
Veljko Ristić explains why inbox placement is tougher in 2026 and maps a checklist: choose an ESP, monitor IP and reputation, comply with Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook rules, authenticate with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, clean and segment lists, write subject lines, and warm up sends.
Geoff Desreumaux breaks down Taika Waititi and Pepsi’s Super Bowl spot “The Choice,” where a Coca-Cola polar bear picks Pepsi Zero Sugar in a blind taste test, then melts down to Queen’s “I Want to Break Free.” And there’s the moment they’re caught on the jumbotron at a concert.
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LINK BUILDING
Vince Nero says digital PR still matters in 2026, but not for old-school link trophies. With two-thirds of Google searches ending with no click, PR should prioritize brand mentions, entity strength, and placements on high-authority publishers that feed AI answers. Rank wins help, yet citations rarely earn clicks for you.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Geoff Desreumaux says Meta will test paid tiers across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, keeping core features free. Instagram may add unlimited audience lists, see who will not follow back, and view Stories anonymously. Meta also plans AI upsells, integrating its Manus agent and making Vibes video tools freemium soon too.
Brett Tabke reports that TikTok’s US ownership shift has triggered algorithm chaos, muted political content, broken discovery, and falling reach. Creators report stalled views and vanished posts, while brands face unreliable performance.
Sounds like there’s more content moderation after the sale 😅
Allison Smith reports TikTok Shop will phase out independent shipping, pushing U.S. sellers onto TikTok-run logistics from Feb. 25 through March 31. Brands must use Fulfilled by TikTok, Upgraded TikTok Shipping, or Collections, with only limited approved software. Consultants warn higher fees, inventory risk, and service glitches are driving exits.
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